Ascendant (55 page)

"Lenner!
I recognize you." Said another guard. "Your father is a scribe here.
He's all right, let him through."

"Wait!"
The lead guard snapped. "Who's this with you?"

"The
wizard's servant, Koren Bladewell, come here from the battle at
Longshire." Lenner answered.

"Koren Bladewell?"
The lead guard held the lantern up to shine light on Koren's face. "Why,
it is you!" This caused surprised muttering amongst the guards.
"Didn't expect to see
you
here." What the guard said next
shocked both Koren and Lenner. "Seize the prisoner," the man said,
almost reluctantly.

"What?"
Koren gulped, and Thunderbolt danced backwards, away from the approaching guards.
Koren's hand reflexively went to the hilt of his sword, which caused the guards
to draw their swords.

"Whoa,
whoa! What are you talking about?" Lenner moved his horse between Koren
and the guards, keeping his own sword in its sheath.

"Captain
Raddick sent back word from Longshire, about the battle, and his dispatches
said Koren here is a coward and a deserter. That he left the wizard at the
start of the battle, and later left his post, to run off. Sorry about this,
Koren, lad."

"
What
?
I am not a coward, and I didn't desert, I went to
rescue
-" Koren
stopped, seething with anger. No words from him were going to convince the
guards, who had orders. He looked behind him, then at the guards, at the open
gate behind them. Koren knew, and so did the guards who had watched him riding,
and sparring with the weapons master, that if Koren rode away, they couldn't
catch him, and if he fought, it would be a bloody battle.

"Where is
the wizard?" Lenner asked sharply. "What has he said?"

"In the
hospital, delirious with fever. He hasn't spoken about Koren, or the battle, or
much of anything." The lead guard admitted. "Koren, lad, I have to
take you in. Don't make this difficult on everyone."

"
I'll
take him in," Lenner offered the break the stalemate, "but first
Koren is going to attend to the wizard. Koren knows where Lord Salva keeps his
potions and things, he may be able to help the healers."

The lead guard
considered for a moment. "All right, then, it's on you to watch him,
Lenner. But Koren, you can't keep your sword. Can't bring it into the hospital,
anyway. We'll see to your horses."

Koren silently
handed his precious, dwarf-made short sword to Lenner.
Prisoner
. He was
to be locked in the dungeon, unless Paedris could tell the truth to the guards.
Koren felt a chill go down his spine, If the wizard
would
tell the
truth. He'd lied about so many things, why should Koren expect the wizard to
tell the truth now? There was nothing else he could do, so he let Lenner lead
the way through the gate. Instead of ducking his head in shame, Koren met the
guard's eyes with anger and defiance. Anger and determination.

Her Highness
Ariana Trehayme, crown princess of Tarador, soon to be queen of the realm,
maitress of the church, protector of the weak, commander-in-chief of the royal army
and navy, and etcetera, also was quite angry that very moment. Furious, in
fact. Since word reached the palace of the wholly unexpected battle in
Longshire, followed by the arrival of the seriously ill court wizard, she had
been consumed with preparing her country against invasion. Or, rather, watching
her mother frantically make one decision after another, sometimes changing her
mind twice in the space of an hour. Carlana was doing the best she could, but
she was in a panic over the raid and near death of her court wizard, and she
wasn't thinking clearly. She was driving her army commanders crazy, to the
point where General Magrane in a weak moment confessed to Ariana that, as soon
as Captain Raddick returned to the palace, Magrane was going into the field to
assume command of the defense forces on the eastern border. At the very least,
in the field, he would not get contradictory orders from the Regent every hour.

What had made
Ariana absolutely furious is that she just learned, a few minutes before, that
Captain Raddick's hurriedly written account of the battle had declared Koren Bladewell
to be a coward and a deserter, and that the servant boy was to be arrested on
sight. That her mother had not known of the army's orders didn't matter, what
mattered was that Ariana insisted her mother come with her, as soon as they
were done reviewing the evening changing of the guard, to see General Magrane,
and rescind the awful, untrue charges against Koren. And that Magrane
immediately send out a patrol of soldiers to find Koren. When the wizard had
come back, delirious with fever and without Koren, Ariana had assumed Koren was
still with Captain Raddick. Safe, with Raddick's men. Now, apparently, no one
knew where he was!

Ariana burst
out of the doorway into the courtyard, her mother and guards trailing behind.
Carlana was forced to hike up her skirts to keep up, an uncomfortable and
undignified action that had her red in the face. "Young lady, you slow
down-"

Ariana spun on
her heels, oblivious to the royal guards who were lined up, waiting for the Regent
and crown princess to watch their ceremonial evening changing of the guard, as
they did most evenings. "
No
, mother." She said in a harsh
whisper, loud enough to scandalize the servants. "Koren has been missing for
days, and the army has orders to
arrest
him, as a
coward
? And no
one thought it was important to tell me?" She stomped over the raised dais
where she usually stood to review the guards, and was about to signal for the
ceremony to begin without her mother, when she saw a familiar person emerge
from a doorway on the opposite side of the courtyard. "Koren!" She
shouted in delight.

Koren had been
biting his lip, looking at the ground, lost in thought about what he would say
to Paedris, if the wizard was capable of listening. As he and Lenner came into
the torchlit courtyard, he heard a familiar girl's voice cry out
"Koren!" He was so startled that he stumbled, and bumped into Lenner.

And right
then, it happened. As Ariana shouted in delight, she dashed forward, and a
heavy stone gargoyle crashed to the dais right where she had been only an
eyeblink before. A large piece of stone that had been the gargoyle's right arm
broke off, and struck the crown princess hard on her back, smashing her to the
hard flagstones of the courtyard. She lay stunned, the breath knocked out of
her, stars swimming in her eyes, her ears ringing.

Koren's feet
got tangled up with Lenner's, and the two fell hard to the stone surface of the
courtyard, with Koren bumping his head on the flagstones. He was on his knees,
shaking his head, when he saw, heard, and felt the stone strike Ariana.

Carlana had
been behind her daughter, far enough that she was only pelted with a few
pebbles broken off the gargoyle, close enough that she was at her daughter's
side, cradling her bloodied head, before Koren had run more than a few steps
toward Ariana. Guards had moved to surround the stricken princess, to protect
her against further danger, with swords drawn, eyes peering up at the roof
where the gargoyle had come from. The Regent was not looking upward. Her weapon
was the daggers in her eyes, eyes fixed on the unexpected, and unwelcome, sight
of Koren Bladewell. The boy had been gone for weeks, and the instant Carlana
saw him again, her daughter was struck down? Koren had been in LeVanne when
that province was invaded. Koren was at the river when a bear attacked her
daughter. Koren was at Longshire with Paedris when the wizard was attacked by
the enemy. Carlana had sent Paedris there because that area of Tarador was one
of the
least
likely places the wizard could find trouble! But, oh, no,
every time Koren is there, terrible trouble follows! She knew it was a bad idea
to let the boy into the castle, she knew it!

"Get away
from my daughter, you
jinx
!" The Regent screamed, pointing at
Koren, and he stopped in his tracks. "Look what you did to my daughter,
you cursed jinx, get out!" Ariana groaned and Carlana cradled her
daughter's head. "Get out of here, and don't ever come back!
Get
out
!"

Koren froze,
hands up to show he had no weapons, listening to the Regent's voice echoing off
the stone walls of the courtyard, burning into his ears. One of the guards,
assuming the Regent meant that Koren had somehow caused the gargoyle to fall,
took a hesitant step forward, and Koren ran. Ran, blindly, pushing the stunned
Lenner out of his way, down a corridor, up another, around a corner, running,
running, running until he was out of breath and out of places to run. He
stopped, huffing and puffing, bent over, hands on his knees, trying to catch
his breath. And trying to collect his wits.

Jinx.

He was a jinx,
he knew it. Bad luck to everyone around him. With Paedris ill, the wizard had
been unable to counter the power of Koren's curse. Now his curse had hurt
Ariana, hurt her badly. His curse struck everyone he cared about.

The wizard
abruptly sat upright in his hospital bed, startling the healer who had been
sitting by his side, cooling his feverish forehead with damp cloths. Something
had awakened him from his fitful sleep. Magic! Dark, foul magic, here in the
castle! "What is happening?" Paedris demanded.

"I, uh,
uh, I don't-" The healer stammered.

"Find
someone who does, then!" His head swimming, Paedris' initial burst of
energy was fading quickly. Knowing he would soon be slipping back into feverish
delirium, he reached into the spirit realm and pulled power into himself. It
was a temporary surge of power, a dangerous surge he would pay terribly for
later, especially in his weakened condition. If he did not feel the need so
dire, he would not have done it.

Impatient, the
wizard swept aside the bed sheet, looking in dismay at the thin, sweat-soaked
robe he was wearing. "A robe! Get me a decent robe! Oh, forget it."
Sweeping past the paralyzed healer, Paedris grabbed a cloak off a hook and
threw it around him, storming out past the guards. He strode quickly down the
hallway and out of the hospital building, where he saw the chief guard rushing
across the courtyard. "Temmas! Temmas!" He shouted in a powerful
voice to get the man's attention. "Come here! What has happened?"

The man named
Temmas hurried over to the wizard, out of breath. "Begging your pardon, my
lord, a gargoyle fell off the roof, and struck the princess, she may have
broken ribs. The Regent blamed your servant-"

"My
servant?" Paedris grabbed the man's shoulders and shook him. "Koren
is here? When did he get here?"

"I think
he just got here recently, my lord." The chief guard actually didn't know,
the comings and goings of servants was not something his guards were instructed
to inform him about. "He was in the courtyard when the gargoyle fell, the Regent
believes he had something to do with it, she said he is a jinx? I suspect this
was an accident-"

"Fool!
That idiot woman!" Paedris raged, not caring who heard him railing against
the Regent. "Koren had nothing to do it with it, and this was no accident,
this was the act of an assassin. I can sense the foulness of dark magic, this
is the work of the enemy. There is an assassin in the castle, perhaps more than
one!"

The chief
guard, who was responsible for the safety of the royal family within the
confines of the castle walls, tried to swallow with a throat that suddenly was
dry as a desert. He had already been dealing with increased security because of
the battle at Longshire, dealing with the constant demands of the Regent, and
on this perfectly ordinary evening, with an old piece of masonry falling off
the roof. An unfortunate accident, that. He would, he had thought, have a long
night making sure the princess had the best of medical care, calming down her
mother, and sending a crew onto the roof to inspect the hundreds of other
gargoyles and other decorative stone objects attached to the top of the walls.

But, an
assassin? An assassin, that he had let inside the walls of the castle, the
capital of Tarador, the very seat of power? Such a failure could not be borne,
he would have to resign in disgrace. If he survived the night. He knew better
than to question the court wizard's pronouncement; if Lord Salva said he felt
dark magic, then foul deeds were afoot tonight. And Temmas would trust the
judgment of a feverish wizard over the flighty and emotional Regent any day.
Especially this day. "What are your orders, my lord?"

"Seal off
the castle, no one in or out." Paedris paused, for that order was so
obvious it didn't warrant speaking aloud. Think, he told himself. What was most
important? "Koren! My servant," he said, as his right hand squeezed
the chief guard's shoulder in a magic-powered crushing grip, and the man grunted
in pain, "you
must
get my servant to safety. Bring him to the
fortress, and post guards there, do it now! You must protect him. Oh, and bring
the princess there also," Paedris said it as an afterthought, "I will
be there as soon as I can to tend to her injuries."

Temmas thought
he should ask the wizard to tend to his shoulder, which he rotated to make sure
it still worked, after the wizard released his iron grip. Why did the wizard
care so much about a lowly servant, who no assassin would think twice about? It
wasn't his place to question the mighty, not on a night when dark magic stalked
the castle walls. "Yes, my lord. Do you need assistance, to deal with the
assassin?"